This Great LEGO Ideas Lancia Delta Rally Car Reached 10k Votes, But Was Still Not Approved

But as is the custom, where LEGO fails to deliver, its Ideas website comes out with amazing build concepts like this amazing Lancia Delta Rally car. A parallel can be drawn here to video games, where Assetto Corsa is a great comparison, as the modding community made that game special and delivered some of the coolest content.

Sometimes enthusiasts dream of cars that would not appeal to the average LEGO aficionado as a whole, which means we never get them. But the community of builders and inventors, much like modders, has our back with some amazing ideas.

But why am I hyping up this set so much? Well, because it truly deserves it as the complexity and attention to detail go above and beyond anything fans can get off of a shelf. This probably ended up being a double-edged sword, as although this set reached the necessary supporter count, it did not get approved by LEGO.

And it is easy to see why it got public backing with even the slightest glance at this build because even the exterior is an absolute masterpiece. This Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16V is probably the most photorealistic set a LEGO fan will ever have the pleasure of laying eyes upon, and this is by design.

Lumik, who is the mastermind behind this beauty based on the 1990 rally car, wanted it to be as accurate as humanly possible. A great deal of work went into making the body panels as gapless and flush as LEGO bricks would allow in order to plaster this car with stickers, as it is fitting for a rally legend.

From the famous Lancia Martini livery to the smallest, most inconsequential detail like the red mudflaps, everything is present. Even the headlights on the tail lights work on this LEGO build, showcasing just how much work went into it.

And if anybody thinks legend is too strong a word to use when talking about the Lancia Delta, that person should study a bit of rally history. This is the car that utterly dominated Group A rally in the late 80s and early 90s, completely demolishing its competition.

When Group B went extinct and Group A became the top dog rally series, Lancia took six consecutive constructors' championship titles, a standing record to this day. The Delta itself (in all of its trims over those six years) also holds the record for the most wins at 46, tied with the Subaru Impreza, which speaks volumes.

That’s not to say that the car did not also have its fair share of issues, in typical Italian fashion. Due to its compact size, the two-liter turbo engine had to be transversely mounted, making servicing a proverbial thorn in the engineers’ side. The wheel arches were also restrictive, meaning that both the suspension travel and tires had to suffer for it.

But despite that, the importance of this car in the history of motorsport simply cannot be understated. And although motorsport fans see the past through rose-tinted glasses, there is a certain beauty and serenity in admiring those times.

And this set is the best homage one could pay to that level of success. Lumik ended up spending 15 months turning his idea into reality, then posting it on LEGO Ideas back in 2020, where it quickly started receiving support. And in order to achieve such a painstakingly detailed model, many building techniques had to be used as well as pieces from two categories, LEGO Technic, and LEGO Creator.

The Technic pieces were used to make the chassis, as they provide an increased level of rigidity and allow for complex pieces to be integrated, which we will get to shortly. The Creator pieces were utilized for the body of this bricky Delta HF Integrale 16V, as it was the best way to make the car suited for plastering with stickers.

So let’s look at some of the highlights. Starting with the wheels, they are all driven by three electric motors and have working double wishbone suspension. There is even a differential in the front and the steering follows precise Ackermann geometry.

The interior was not forgotten either, with instruments, pedals, mirrors, and sun shades, all accounted for. Even the gear lever inside the car does something, as it is used to switch between rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive.

Even the tiniest detail like the fire extinguisher or the steering wheel being adjustable were integrated into this build, making it truly mind-blowing. There simply isn’t an angle you can look at it from and find a flaw.

Overall, this set is stunning, with 2,584 pieces seamlessly coming together in a complex symphony of LEGO rally goodness. It is an absolute shame that despite getting the necessary number of 10,000 supporters on the Ideas website, it will never become an official set.